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The Capitol Hill Babysitting Cooperative (CHBC) is a cooperative located in Washington D.C., whose purpose is to fairly distribute the responsibility of babysitting between its members. The co-op is often used as an allegory for a demand-oriented model of an economy. The allegory illustrates several economic concepts, including the paradox of thrift and the importance of the money supply to an economy's well being. The allegory has received continuing attention, particularly in the wake of the late-2000s recession. Former members Joan Sweeney and Richard James Sweeney first presented the co-op as an allegory for an economy in a 1977 article, but it was little-known until popularized by Paul Krugman in his book ''Peddling Prosperity'' and subsequent writings. Krugman has described the allegory as "a favorite parable"〔, 〕 and "life-changing". == History == The co-op was founded in the late 1950s, and continues to operate. In 2010, there were twenty families in the co-op (down from its heyday of 250 families). Some of these are second-generation members of the co-op. It is open to new members. Members naturally left the co-op as their children grew up, but many continued to work together in various organizations. In 2007 a number of the now elderly former co-op members from the 1960s and 1970s were involved in founding the Capitol Hill Village, an organization dedicated to helping elderly people continue living at home by providing a support community. The organization is modeled after Beacon Hill Village in Beacon Hill, Boston, and while it involves elements of mutualism, it is dues-paying and involves external parties. Some additional details: * The co-op grew from 20 families in the early 1960s to more than 200 in the early 1970s. * By the early 1970s the co-op was geographically split in two – north/south or east/west. * In the 1960s the position of secretary rotated monthly. This was seen as an onerous task, which is why it was rotated, and entailed taking babysitting requests, matching sitters with requests (hence being on call at all times), and balancing the books. * Double time was paid after midnight and between 5 pm and 7 pm (during supper time).〔 does not specify if double time was paid to sitters or to the secretary; states "time and a half for later hours" for sitters.〕 * Time and a half was paid for later hours. * Scrip was in extremely high demand, at least at some points,〔 with a former member being quoted as saying "Oh my God, you would kill for scrip. ... You would sell your children for scrip." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Capitol Hill Babysitting Co-op」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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